Various scent formulations are known and used by hunters as attractants for the particular animal specie they are in pursuit of. Such formulations can include animal urine, animal glandular products and plant derivatives. Such scents are typically designed to stimulate mating or territorial behavior thereby causing the animal to be attracted to the location of the scent. Generally, a hunter will establish a protected position or stand to hunt from, around which he will distribute the scent. Various scent dispensing devices are known, see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,717 to Schwab, issued June 18, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 3,046,192 to Bilyeu, issued July 24, 1962; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,959,354 to Beck, issued Nov. 8, 1960. Such prior art dispensers include absorbent material to hold and permit the slow release therefrom of the scent into the ambient air. Such dispensers require that they be carried by the hunter to the desired location and then hung from a suitable branch or other supporting object. However, in carrying the dispenser to the desired spot the hunter will inevitably leave a human scent trail between the dispenser and the location of his stand, and can make a substantial amount of noise. As a result thereof, the animal being hunted may be prematurely alerted to the hunter's presence, and run off.
A further prior art device for distributing animal scent is known that employs hollow metal pellets containing absorbent material. In use, the absorbent material is saturated with the particular scent afterwhich the pellet is projected, by means of a sling shot, to the desired location from the hunter's stand. However, such pellets will generally land at or near the ground level, and as a result thereof, can easily be covered by leaves or other low lying vegetation thereby reducing the ability of the scent to be released into the ambient air in sufficient quantities to attract an animal.
Accordingly, it would be very desirable for a hunter to be able to distribute the animal attractant in a manner that minimizes the amount of human scent put down in his immediate vicinity, yet provide for the dispersal of an adequate amount of the animal attractant scent into the ambient air.